Post your Real world experience repairs and maintenance for EV, PHEV, Hybrid vehicles

Evil Baby wrote: ↑ I can't add much since any repair I've had done was under warranty. Upper control arm and rear window.

However, for me tires, were much more expensive than I'm used to. Perhaps that's typical on more expensive cars as they're likely heavier than the eco boxes I've always driven, but at least for the Tesla you need tires rated for a heavier weight than a typical eco box sedan. They're also fairly wide.

When it came to buying winter tires, this got evident very quickly. I got really lucky and was able to find a set of rims and tires of some guy in Muskoka who traded in his Model 3 for a Model Y, and even used, it still cost me $950. Brand new was close to 2 grand.

I would have never dreamed of spending that much on winter tires and rims for any of my previous vehicles. Dodge Caravan, Subaru Forest, Kia Forte, Ford Focus. (you get the idea)

gr8dlr wrote: ↑ I've read about tires and $2,000 is not a small number if you have to change them every two or three years [depending on how much you drive]. From what i hear tires only last 30,000 km as well which is about 3x as fast as a regular ICE.

gr8dlr wrote: ↑ I've read about tires and $2,000 is not a small number if you have to change them every two or three years [depending on how much you drive]. From what i hear tires only last 30,000 km as well which is about 3x as fast as a regular ICE.

Evil Baby wrote: ↑ When it came to buying winter tires, this got evident very quickly. I got really lucky and was able to find a set of rims and tires of some guy in Muskoka who traded in his Model 3 for a Model Y, and even used, it still cost me $950. Brand new was close to 2 grand.

Xtrema wrote: ↑ The cheapest set of winter tires (Chinese) + rims is $1300 on 1010 for a Corolla.

$2K for a Tesla (18s?) seems to be on par.

Xtrema wrote: ↑ The cheapest set of winter tires (Chinese) + rims is $1300 on 1010 for a Corolla.

$2K for a Tesla (18s?) seems to be on par.

instanoodles wrote: ↑ If you have a hyundai EV with blue battery coolant you are going to be in for a surprise when it comes time to change it if prices dont come down. My Kona EV requires 14L of coolant changed every 60,000kms or 4 years @ $80L a litre (price when I bought my Kona last year). Its all bullshit though, in the same model year some come with the blue low conductivity stuff and some regular green coolant which gets changed at 160,000kms. All the parts in the cars are the same except for a different expansion tank and cap (blue coolant has a left hand thread cap) but im stuck with the expensive maintenance.

I have also heard its the same with the ioniq5, some have blue coolant and some have green.

Xtrema wrote: ↑ The cheapest set of winter tires (Chinese) + rims is $1300 on 1010 for a Corolla.

$2K for a Tesla (18s?) seems to be on par.

instanoodles wrote: ↑If you have a hyundai EV with blue battery coolant you are going to be in for a surprise when it comes time to change it if prices dont come down. My Kona EV requires 14L of coolant changed every 60,000kms or 4 years @ $80L a litre (price when I bought my Kona last year). Its all bullshit though, in the same model year some come with the blue low conductivity stuff and some regular green coolant which gets changed at 160,000kms. All the parts in the cars are the same except for a different expansion tank and cap (blue coolant has a left hand thread cap) but im stuck with the expensive maintenance.

I have also heard its the same with the ioniq5, some have blue coolant and some have green.

ichibansan wrote: ↑ Typical Hyundai ripoff--over $1000 (plus tax of course and labour) every 4 years/60,000km. Of course this is the same company that has been sued for excessive oil change requirements by their dealers.

MexiCanuck wrote: ↑ My experience involves:

- a 2004 Toyota Prius bought new, driven until 2014, when it was written off due to a collision;
- a 2014 Toyota Prius v bought new driven until 2021, when it was sold;
- a 2019 Tesla Model 3 bought new, still in use; and
- a 2019 Chevy Volt bought used in 2021.

Toyota Prii

The 2004 Prius was the first Toyota I owned.

Each of the Toyotas was used for work, driving 3-4,000 km/month. Each was maintained at dealerships per the manufacturer’s scheduled maintenance except for brakes and tires. I got those elsewhere.

I didn't pay for anything other than routine maintenance on either car. There were two or three manufacturer parts exchanged, but those were all without charge to me. At the time, I could not have been happier.

When I decided to buy a BEV, solely for environmental reasons, I waited for a few years, hoping that Toyota would “get with the program”. Of course, Toyota was going in different directions, so I looked elsewhere.

Tesla Model 3

I couldn’t be happier now with my TM3. Pre-pandemic I was driving it 4-5,000 km/week, mostly for work.

I bought floor and trunk mats. I bought wheels and winter tires as I have done with every other vehicle I have owned.

Tesla replaced a computer with no further expense to me. Tesla contacted me and ranged to have someone drive to my home to add grease to a joint tht had caused some other owners to hear squeaking. (I didn’t have the problem.)

I do seasonal tire swaps and at 74,000 km, I’ll be getting new summer tires this spring. I think my winter tires will give me one more season.

My only maintenance cost has been cabin air filters that I’ll be installing this spring.

Chevrolet Volt

My wife bought her Volt PHEV in May 2021. She uses it “around town” with a 150 km drive once every six months or so. She has had no maintenance costs.

We charge the car free at public, Level 2 charging stations. We have paid less than $10 in fuel costs in almost a year of ownership. I am so happy with the Volt I considered buying one in Mexico, but they are difficult to find. In addition, few dealerships are authorized to work on them. The nearest one is several hundred kilometres (on Mexican highways) away.

The infrastructure for BEVs in Mexico is almost non-existent as it is for the Volt. I may buy a BEV in Mexico as well.

In conclusion, I was very happy with my hybrids when that technology was “state of the art”. I would not buy one now because the maintenance costs are comparable to an ICE and the environmental benefit is minimal. They are still effectively an ICE car.

I am now very happy with my BEV. I drive a lot and it is very enjoyable driving it. After the purchase price, the costs are minimal.

The Volt used a different technology than other PHEVs. I would buy a car that uses the Volt PHEV technology, but probably not a PHEV that uses standard technology.

engineered wrote: ↑ Yea, $2k is about right, including $500 for the stupid bluetooth TPMS. $1600 for wheels/tires mounted and shipped, +$500 for TPMS. You can get the TPMS cheaper from Tesla for $100/ea, but the cost to mount locally offset the savings.

Here's my order from last fall from PMCtire

Kasakato wrote: ↑ Those TPMS have a markup built it- should be $95/each from the Tesla website.

I found it to be cheaper to buy local rather than online.

engineered wrote: ↑ You can get the TPMS cheaper from Tesla for $100/ea, but the cost to mount locally offset the savings.

Evil Baby wrote: ↑ Perhaps part of the difference for me, is that I've never had difficulty getting steelies for any of my other vehicles. Heck, you can usually get winter rims for $40 a rim at an auto wrecker. This wasn't a possibility for the Tesla. How would that compare to other vehciles in the same price range? I'm not sure, I've only ever really bought lower end cars before.

Xtrema wrote: ↑ I see. That's why you are feeling the difference. Thanks to everyone going for bigger wheels and brakes (and you need them to stop 5000lbs), it's harder to source steelies. But new steelies are also not that cheap anymore new. You can usually find alloys that's may be only $50 or so more than a equivalent steelies.

gr8dlr wrote: ↑ Curious if they wrote in the manual ...maintenance every 60k kms or 160k kms. Or is there two different versions of the manual as well.

It would seem unusual that they would put blue if the cost is so much more than green. At end of day, doesn't that substantially increases their cost and reduces their profit per vehicle.